The start
of the season in Borisov was a true show with children performing, a speech
from the region's authorities and traditional raising of the flag by two
captains preceded by bread and salt from hospitable land of Borisov. A true
special of the day was the first touch of the ball made by Yuri Pudyshev, Soviet
football legend and FC BATE Reserves.

The
Borisovites made three changes in the line-ups. Siarhei Chernik was there in
the goal instead of Germans Māliņš, Dzmitry Likhtarovich appeared on the pitch
instead of Aliaksandr Karnitski and suspended Edhar Aliakhnovich made room for Anri
Khagush.

Already in
the beginning of the match BATE head coach had to make another substitution,
putting in Aliaksandr Paulau instead of Dzmitry Baha, who was injured. But that
did not mean a lot for BATE who were determined to grab their first victory in
2014 Vysshaya Liga.

Aliaksandr
Valadzko made a couple of nice tries blocked by defenders before Illia
Aleksiyevich fired above the bar from a good position. FC Minsk had a couple of
nice chances cancelled out by faultless Chernik.

BATE
started the second half quite lively with a lot of attacks. Siarhei Kryvets
squandered a good chance firing above the bar from the box. But the
Yellow-Blues did score after a set-piece. Filip Mladenović made a good cross
into the box for Ryhor Filipenka to head the ball into the corner.

Right after
that Vitali Radzionau could have scored the second, but was denied twice. First
Begunov cleared the ball from the goal-line, and then his shot lacked a bit of preciseness.
And 15 minutes before the final whistle Radzionau was about to add an assist to
his statistics, but Mikhail Hardzeichuk and Siarhei Kryvets wasted fantastic
opportunities.

Nevertheless, BATE recorded an important win and
is looking forward to travelling to Gomel next weekend.

Aliaksandr YERMAKOVICH (FC BATE Borisov):- That was a very
tough game. We prepared very hard for it. We did not have place for
complacency. We were aiming only for the win. The opponents were really
determined to get points in Borisov. Although we know the team very well. The
first goal decided a lot. Minsk had to go forward and we got space for
counterattacks. Unfortunately, we did not use them, but we know we need to work
hard to improve. Yuri Pudyshev's birthday was our inspiration. We would like to
devote this victory to him.

Andrei
SKOROBOGATSKO (FC Minsk):- We
understood the importance of this match and prepared for it thoroughly. We
played against FC Minsk in Supercup game and knew a lot about the team. It was
a nice game, but one second of low concentration and we got a set-piece goal
again. We had to take risks and attack. But on the whole I am thankful to the
guys for their commitment. There was a lot of tackles today, which shows the
guys wanted to win very much.